Win Streak May Continue For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished higher in six straight sessions, accelerating more than 140 points or 6 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 23-60-point plateau and it's got another strong lead for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology, chemical, oil and automobile stocks, while the financials were soft.

For the day, the index rose 8.22 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 2,359.53 after trading between 2,350.36 and 2,369.66. Volume was 359.99 million shares worth 6.2 trillion won. There were 602 gainers and 246 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tumbled 2.20 percent, while KB Financial tanked 2.42 percent, Hana Financial plunged 3.24 percent, Samsung Electronics was up 0.17 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 1.96 percent, LG Electronics slid 0.32 percent, SK Hynix advanced 0.92 percent, Naver climbed 1.04 percent, LG Chem improved 0.79 percent, Lotte Chemical rose 0.27 percent, S-Oil and Hyundai Motor both added 0.61 percent, SK Innovation soared 3.37 percent, POSCO perked 0.34 percent, SK Telecom dropped 0.85 percent, KEPCO sank 0.76 percent, Kia Motors gained 0.47 percent and Hyundai Mobis was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and mostly improved as the session progressed.

The Dow jumped 268.91 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 33,973.01, while the NASDAQ spiked 189.04 points or 1.76 percent to close at 10,931.67 and the S&P 500 advanced 50.36 points or 1.28 percent to end at 3,969.61.

The strength on Wall Street reflected optimism about the highly anticipated consumer price inflation report due later today.

The report is expected to show a slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth and could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Wednesday on hopes for a global economic recovery and the possible impact of sanctions on Russian crude output. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February jumped by $2.29 or 3.1 percent at $77.41 a barrel, rising for a fifth straight session.